The African associate team savored their finest international win in front of thousands of Sri Lankan fans at Geelong’s Kardinia Park as they thrashed the 2014 champions by 55 runs. It came a year after Erasmus’s side upset test-playing nation Ireland to earn a place in the Super 12 and take on global powers Pakistan, New Zealand, and India.

At that tournament, Sri Lanka thrashed Namibia by seven wickets in their first qualifying match. “If you look at last year’s game, the tables have been turned,” a thrilled Erasmus told reporters. “To be honest, I think there was more childish belief last year before that game.

“I think this year was more something of, ‘We’ve played at the level and we can now mentally relate to that level, we can now physically execute skills’. “We’ve seen it, we’ve tasted it. “Getting the actual physical feel for what it’s like, I think that’s really what gave us the belief this time around that, well, this is a cricket game and if we execute on the day, we stand a good chance.”

Namibia will look to repeat last year’s trip to the Super 12 by beating the Netherlands in Geelong on Tuesday and the United Arab Emirates at the same venue two days later in their remaining Group A qualifiers. With a quick turnaround between matches, the team will have to keep a lid on the celebrations.

“It’s going to take a massive mental re-set from our point because you can get carried away with celebrations and historical events like this happening,” Erasmus said, “(It’s) a massive event in our lives, and as such, it should be celebrated. But… we’re going to have to put the celebrations off for a little bit, I guess. It’s only the start of the tournament.”

Frylinck’s all-round performance saw Namibia beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs with 7 balls to spare. Naturally, the man of the match award went to Frylinck.

He was speechless with happiness after getting the player of the match award on the World Cup stage. The Namibian all-rounder said, ‘I am a bit speechless at the moment. I am very excited with joy. We were confident that we can achieve what we have achieved today. I took the pressure off me by hitting a couple of boundaries in the match and later JJ Smith took the pressure off me by hitting a couple of

boundaries. After that I along with Smith delivered a competitive collection to the team.’ About the bowling performance, Frylinck said, “Our bowlers have performed well. The bowlers just bowled as planned. Perfect line length ball and took advantage of their (Lankan batsmen) mistakes.”

In the day’s other warmup at the same venue, Ireland suffered a spectacular collapse against Namibia going down by 11 runs in a low-scoring match.

Dasun Shanaka’s Lankan side arrived for the current edition in Australia buoyed by their Asia Cup triumph where they lifted the title ahead of powerhouses India and Pakistan, rekindling hopes of repeating their 2014 success in the T20 World Cup. Their indifferent form in the bilateral T20 series earlier in the year has meant Sri Lanka has to play in the qualifying stage where eight teams have been split into two groups with the top two from each progressing to the Super 12 stage.

On Tuesday, the opening pair of Mendis and Pathum Nissanka gave Sri Lanka a rollicking start with a stand of 57 in just five overs to set the platform for a big total. Mendis hit six fours and three sixes in his 29-ball knock and with some lusty hitting from Wanindu Hasaranga, who made an unbeaten 37 off 14 deliveries, helped Sri Lanka to a total of 188 for five from their 20 overs.

Zimbabwe also made a brisk start to their chase by accumulating 39 runs in just three overs but it proved too steep an ask as Sri Lanka’s bowlers found their line and length. Off-spinner Mahesh Theekshana and seamer Chamika Karunaratne picked up two wickets apiece as Zimbabwe managed 155-5 in their innings.

Opting to bowl first in the day’s second match, Paul Stirling’s Ireland side restricted Namibia to 138-4 and then appeared in a prime position to chase down the target by reaching 65-1 at the halfway stage.

But Namibia seamer Ben Shikongo turned the match on its head by picking up three wickets in the 16th over of Ireland’s innings. Ireland lost the last nine wickets while adding 62 runs to be all out for 127 with a ball remaining.